Intern Story: Samara Rosen

This summer, the Coastal Watershed Council team grew with the addition of five new interns. Samara joined the CWC team in June 2017. Hailing from Oakland, Samara currently studies Water at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. As a Monitoring and Science Intern, Samara has connected communities to their local waterways through investigation and exploration. Here’s what she had to share:

“My passion for rivers started as a love-at-first-paddle on the American River. Ever since, I’ve devoted my studies to learning how to connect people to rivers in every way that I can. My internship with the Coastal Watershed Council lets me work with science, communication, and grassroots organizing campaigns, to invite people to explore the wonders of local streams and participate in river restoration efforts.

As the Monitoring Intern, I co-lead the Urban Watch program. I calibrate and prepare equipment so that I can engage volunteers in the language of river science. Splashing around in the creek in our waders and yelling data points to the riverbank, we have collected weeks of water quality data that we can use to guide our educational and political efforts to protect our local rivers.

For the future interns out there: come ready to learn what happens when you combine people, policy, and science; and bring an extra pair of socks because you’re going to get your feet wet with CWC!”